Law enforcement agencies across the United States are reporting an increase in their ranks for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Police departments of all sizes—small, medium, and large—saw hiring increases, according to data from the 214 law enforcement agencies that responded to PERF, an independent research organization focusing on policing issues.
Small agencies hired 38 percent more officers in 2023 than in 2019, while medium agencies hired 25 percent more, and large agencies hired about 5 percent more.
“In 2023, responding agencies hired nearly 30 percent more sworn officers than in 2020 and 6.4 percent more than in 2019,” the nonprofit think tank said.
The survey classifies small agencies as those with fewer than 50 officers and medium agencies with 50 to 249. Large agencies, which have reported the greatest staffing challenges, have more than 250 officers.
“Small and medium agencies now have more sworn officers than they had in January 2020,” PERF said. “In large agencies, sworn staffing slightly increased during 2023, but it is still more than 5 percent below where it was in January 2020.”
Chuck Wexler, executive director of PERF, said the past four years have been “particularly challenging for American policing,” but that hiring is “finally starting to turn a corner.”
Some departments are still struggling to attract and keep officers, Mr. Wexler said, adding that the profession “isn’t out of the woods yet.”
Since George Floyd died in police custody in 2020, leading to protests, riots, and a historic exodus of officers, America’s criminal justice system and police officers have been a big part of the national conversation.
Police have morphed from a traditional position of being praised to being viewed with distrust and animosity. Prominent political and social leaders on the left have called for defunding law enforcement.
As more officers began retiring, departments have had to redeploy stretched resources.
Resignations and Retirements Down
PERF’s survey also found that police departments reported a decline in resignations and retirements last year.However, Mr. Wexler noted that the survey asked only for numbers, so it’s hard to say whether those officers are joining larger departments or leaving the profession altogether.
He also said that smaller departments, which account for 80 percent of agencies nationwide, were underrepresented in the responses that PERF received.
Despite this, PERF said agencies had retirements drop to roughly where they were in 2019 after being elevated for the previous three years.
Resignations dropped by more than 20 percent overall, from a high of almost 6,500 in 2022 to fewer than 5,100 in 2023. Resignations are still up over early COVID-19 pandemic levels in 2020, however, when about 4,000 officers resigned across all responding departments.
Similar to hiring increases, the rate of decrease in retirements tends to depend on the size of the departments.
There were fewer retirements in 2023 than in 2019 at large departments, slightly more retirements at medium departments, and elevated retirements at small departments.
The survey found a steep drop in resignations at large agencies with 250 or more officers and medium-size agencies with between 50 and 249 officers.
